Buy Low/Sell High

08/17/2010 6:41 AM -  Fred Zinkie

At this point in the year, most leagues are shut off from wheeling and dealing. For those that are most of the deals are done strictly because of a shortage at a particular stat. With that in mind, I came up with a few players who are capable of helping in certain categories and might even be free agents. These players do have buy low qualities too of course.

 

Runs – Ben Zobrist. Zorilla is freezing cold right now. He has zero home runs in over 170 at-bats. He has zero steals in August. He was recently in a stretch of five straight games without a hit. All of that paints a pretty bleak picture, but he is still walking a ton and hitting very high in the batting order. If runs is what’s needed, he is a cheap and efficient option.

Steals – Nyjer Morgan. Morgan will be back with the Nats Wednesday, and he never really wanted to go on the disabled list in the first place. He was stealing bases at a more successful rate and with more frequency in the second half, but maybe that is lost on an owner or his numbers simply are not needed by that owner. Morgan is essentially a one dimensional threat, so he might not cost much. Of course the same could be said of a lot of players – just search your league for the team that does not need help at steals, and chances are you can make a move.

Home runs – Carlos Pena. He might be available in some leagues and in others owners might not be able to stomach his average. In any event, Pena is off the disabled list, and could run into one of his ridiculous power streaks like he had in June when he hit seven home runs in six games.

RBI – Jorge Cantu. Pena is also an option here, but for variety’s sake Cantu’s name can be added. With Nelson Cruz going to the disabled list yet again, Cantu’s place in the Rangers’ order goes up a notch. Like Pena, Cantu can be streaky, but for many owners that’s the best option out there. Think of this as a basketball game in which you are down by more than five points with a minute to go. You just want to give yourself a chance to win here – foul, press, get quick shots, and hope to get lucky.

Average – A.J. Pierzynski. He is the fourth hardest guy to strikeout right now, but he’s hitting 60 points lower than he was last season.